A Book Blog

April 6, 2017

Blog Tour: LITERALLY by Lucy Keating (Q & A + Giveaway!)

Welcome to my tour stop for LITERALLY by Lucy Keating! This was the first book by Lucy that I read and I loved it! It was a lot of fun and anyone who enjoys the process of creative writing or book reviewing would get a kick out of it.

Lucy stopped by my blog today to chat about her book and don’t forget to enter the awesome giveaway at the bottom. Follow the tour for other fun and creative posts.

Interview with Lucy Keating

1. Writing about a character who discovers she’s actually a character in a book is such a fun idea! Tell us about how you came up with the concept for Literally.

At the time I wanted to write a book about being “friend boxed” (when you have romantic feelings for a friend who doesn’t like you back), as it was something I’d experienced a lot growing up. We found out that the pitch was close to something that had just sold, and were back to square one. I was having a discussion with my editors about how it’s always been important for me to bring my personal experiences into my work, and one of them ended up having a dream where I kidnapped one of my characters and held him hostage. I found this to be amazing, hysterical, weird, and therefore right up my alley.

2. Do you use Pinterest for inspiration ideas? If so, do you have a board for this book?

3. Dogs, cars, bands and newscasters are fun elements in the book. Did you write your interests and hobbies into this book or were they only for your characters?

Creatures of some kind will always be in my books, because animals are my obsession. However, live music and vintage cars are also two big interests of mine (just check out my instagram!). I added those in because they felt specific to the experience I’d had while living in LA, where the book is set. But I guess I also added them in because Annabelle and I are VERY different, and I wanted to create small things in her life that I could identify with.

4. If you could re-write Literally from a different character’s point of view, who would you pick?

What a cool question! Probably Annabelle’s best friend, Ava. She realizes she’s not even a main character, but a SIDE/best friend character at that! I bet a lot of people could identify with that feeling.

5. What was the most fun part of writing Literally?

I loved the moments where I got to write “Lucy Keating’s” voice. As I’ve mentioned in a few posts and interviews, she and I actually do not have much in common (I am not a bestselling author, I do not live in a mansion, etc), but I loved the magazine interview, and when they go to her house. In those moments I got to play with our similarities AND our differences, and I got to be a little sassy, whereas in real life I am usually pretty nice! Sometimes it’s fun to be bad though! I wanted to put more of her in the book, but was encouraged to leave her out in case it aged it up too much.

6. This book would make a great movie. Which of your books would you love to see turned into a film?

Thank you! I’d love to see Dreamology turned into a movie or a TV show. There’s a lot of fun imagery to work with, and all the Boston locations are real (except for the Center for Dream Discovery).

7. Anything you can tell us about your next project?

I’m messing around with a few things. My favorite one has to do with how we choose to tell and remember our own stories (romance and otherwise).

A girl realizes her life is being written for her in this unique, smart love story that is Stranger Than Fiction for fans of Stephanie Perkins.

Annabelle’s life has always been Perfect with a capital P. Then bestselling young adult author Lucy Keating announces that she’s writing a new novel—and Annabelle is the heroine.

It turns out, Annabelle is a character that Lucy Keating created. And Lucy has a plan for her.

But Annabelle doesn’t want to live a life where everything she does is already plotted out. Will she find a way to write her own story—or will Lucy Keating have the last word?

The real Lucy Keating’s delightful contemporary romance blurs the line between reality and fiction, and is the perfect follow-up for readers who loved her debut Dreamology, which SLJ called, “a sweet, quirky romance with appealing characters.”

About the Author

Lucy lives in San Francisco, California. She grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, attended Williams College in the Berkshires, and still misses the East Coast very much.

When she’s not writing, Lucy can usually be found obsessing over the latest music, inventing new flavors of ice cream, or having what she feels are perfectly acceptable conversations with her dog, Ernie.

You can follow Lucy on Instagram @lucy.keating, and Ernie The Dog @ernsboberns